Dental cleaners



M. E. FLEMING DENTAL CLEANERS Filed ocn 1954 oct. 21, 195s INVENTOR ATTORNEY United States Patent() DENTAL CLEANERS Margaret Ellen Fleming, Niagara Falls, N. Y., assignor to John Stuart Fleming, Niagara Falls, N. Y.

Application October 8, 1954, Serial No. 461,142

2 Claims. (Cl. 132-93) The invention relates to dental cleaners for dislodging food particles from between adjacent teeth. Known dental cleaners comprise tooth picks of various kinds, dental iioss, and dental ribbons the wax impregnated threads of which tend to injure the gums, and all of which tend to injure or cut the gums for lack of a soft cushioned edge.

An object ofthe invention is to provide a dental cleaner consisting of a strip of thin exible sized wet strength paper having a soft cushioned edge extending along it as a border, said soft edge being beveled and having the pulp of said paper exposed upon one side thereof and having a thin superficial coating of water repellant reinforcing material upon its non-beveled side adapted to support said soft edge against undue vertical yielding during its use, said soft edge having said coating being adapted to have a brushing action between adjacent teeth.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combinations of parts hereinafter set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings Figures l to 5 inclusive are side views of different patterns of said strip, Figure 6 is a section on the line 6 6, Figure 5, on a much enlarged scale and partly broken away, showing said soft edge and said coating, Figure 7 is a plan view of a fragment of said strip as in Figure 6, and Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 6, showing said strip folded to superpose one of its longitudinal halves upon the other half thereof.

In the drawings, 1 designates the dental cleaner, consisting of a strip of thin iiexible Wet strength paper, having a soft cushioned edge 2 extending along it as a border, said soft edge being beveled and having the pulp of said paper exposed upon one side 4 thereof and having a thin superficial coating 3 of water repellant reinforcing material upon its non-beveled side adapted to support said soft edge against undue vertical yielding during movement of said strip between adjacent teeth with its soft edge pressed against the gums, the pressure load being distributed between said soft edge and said coating, said soft edge having said coating being adapted to have a brushing action during said movement. Said paper being of wet strength is adapted to retain its strength against disintegration upon being moistened by the saliva.

Said strip having said coating 3 is capable of being t, 2,856,938 Patented Oct. 21, 1958 In order to provide said strip with said soft edge 2 torn from and along a scored or indented weakened tear dipped or passed rapidly through hot liquiiied paraflin wax and rapidly cooled in any suitable manner Without the use of pressure rollers so that a thin superficial water repellant wax coating will be evenly applied to both sides of said paper with substantially no penetration of the wax in the pores of the paper and with no great increase in the thickness of said paper, after which said strip is torn from and along a line of said sheet having said coating.

Said paper is thin to enable said strip to be moved between adjacent teeth, it is flexible to enable said strip to be exed during said movement, it is sized to close its pores, it is of wet strength so that said soft 'edge shall retain its strength against disintegration upon being moistened by the saliva, it is calendered to make it smooth and compact for providing an adequate soft edge and it is of long iiber so that it shall have the necessary tensile strength. Said paper must not be so thin as to provide an inadequate soft edge.

The dental cleaner strip may be of any suitable pattern. For example it may be of narrow ribbon pattern as shown in Figure 5, said ribbon having one or alternatively both of its longitudinal edges constituted by said soft edge; it may be of elliptical pattern as shown in Figure l having an elliptical edge constituted by said soft edge; it may be of quadrilateral pattern as shown in Figures 2 and 3,

or it may be of the pattern shown in Figure 4.

tudinal and transverse edges 2, 2 intersecting in points 2".

In the modification shown in Figure 8, adapted for use between adjacent teeth not close together, ysaid strip is folded centrally longitudinally thereof to superpose one of its longitudinal halves upon the other half thereof, locate said soft edges adjacent each other and provide a paper fold 5 connecting said halves together.

The wax coating 3 may serve as a base or carrying agent for an anti-biotic or antiseptic preparation.

The right is reserved to modifications coming within the scope of the claims and to any other uses for which the invention is adapted, such as cleaning between the edges of the linger nail and the adjacent cuticle and cleaning under the eyelids.

I claim:

l. A cushioned dental cleaner, consisting of a narrow ribbon shaped strip of thin flexible sized wet strength paper, each of the longitudinal edges'of said strip being a soft cushioned edge extending along it as a border, said ribbon form strip being folded centrally longitudinally thereof to superpose one of its longitudinal halves upon the other half thereof, locate said soft edges adjacent each other and provide a paper fold connecting said halves together, each of said soft edges being beveled and having the pulp of said paper exposed upon one side thereof and having a thin superficial coating of water repellant reinforcing material upon its non-beveled side adapted to support said soft edge against undue vertical yielding during movement of said folded strip between adjacent teeth, said soft edges being adapted to have a brushing action during said movement.

2. A cushioned dental cleaner, consisting of a quadrilateral stnp of thin :exible sized wet strength paper, each of the longitudinal and transverse edges of said strip being a soft cushioned edge extending along vit as a border, said soft edge being beveled and having the pulp of said paper exposed upon one side thereof and having a thin superficial coating of water repellan't reinforcing material upon its non-beveled side adapted to support the soft edge against undue vertical yielding during movement of said strip between adjacent teeth, said longitudinal and transverse edges intersecting in points, said soft edges having said coating being adapted to have a brush- 'ing action during said movement.

References Cited in the `file of this ,patent UNITED dSTATES PATENTS 

